BharatNotes Coparcenary
noun (also used attributively/adjectivally)Usage in a UPSC answer
The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, by conferring coparcenary rights on daughters by birth, struck at the patriarchal core of property law and advanced substantive gender equality within the joint family.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
coparcenary (n/adj), coparcener (n), coparceners (n pl), parcener (n), parcel (n, cognate)
Root
Latin co- = together + partitionem = partition, share → Old French parconier = sharer → Anglo-French coparcenarie
Etymology
From Anglo-French coparcenarie, from co- ("together") + parcener ("a sharer, partner in an inheritance"), from Old French parconier, from parcon ("partition, share"), from Latin partitionem.
Memory Hook
Co- (together) + parcener (sharer of a "parcel/portion") = co-owners who share a parcel of inherited land. Think "co-partners in a parcel."
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
Joint ownership of ancestral property acquired by birth. Under the Mitakshara school the coparcenary comprised male descendants up to four generations who took an interest in ancestral property by birth itself rather than by inheritance, and that is exactly what distinguishes coparcenary from ordinary succession. The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 made daughters coparceners on the same footing as sons. The point most often missed, and therefore the one most worth knowing, is what the Supreme Court settled in Vineeta Sharma in August 2020: because the right arises by birth, it does not depend on the father having been alive on 9 September 2005 when the amendment took effect. That resolved conflicting earlier rulings and greatly widened the number of women able to claim, since a daughter's entitlement is a birthright in the coparcenary rather than a share received on her father's death.
Don’t Confuse It With
A coparcenary is the narrower body holding an interest by birth in ancestral property, while the Hindu Undivided Family is the wider group including members with no such interest, so every coparcener belongs to the HUF but not every member is a coparcener. Ancestral or coparcenary property descends through the paternal line and is distinct from self-acquired property, over which the owner has full power of disposal. Partition converts an undivided interest into a defined share. The Mitakshara school recognises a right by birth, whereas the Dayabhaga school of Bengal does not.
Hindi Meaning
सहदायिकी (sahadāyikī); पैतृक संपत्ति (paitrik sampatti) for ancestral property.
Common Questions
- What did Vineeta Sharma decide?
- That a daughter's coparcenary right arises by birth, so it does not matter whether her father was alive on 9 September 2005 when the 2005 amendment came into force.
- What is the difference between a coparcenary and an HUF?
- The coparcenary is the narrower group holding an interest in ancestral property by birth, while the Hindu Undivided Family also includes members who have no such interest.
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